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HELP..did i f$#k up the panel lights?...plz HELP

This is a discussion on HELP..did i f$#k up the panel lights?...plz HELP within the Electrical forums, Tweet
Originally Posted by wleeb
I am glad to hear you worked it out sergatiuk, however I am interested in ...

I am glad to hear you worked it out sergatiuk, however I am interested in the car computer you installed.

What brand is it?

What features does it have?

Do you have pictures of it installed?

How much did it cost you?

computer:
Brand: since computers arent really made to run in a car, theres not really a brand, its rather custom made. ill explain.
i used a laptop (originally branded Aopen - regular laptop) then strip it down from everything - keyboard, mouse, cd-drive, monitor. basicly minimize the size to max, leaving only motherboard, bat and HD- as we all know the tundra is pretty packed together and there arent many empty hidden spaces.
then the operating system - i used XP Pro - which also has to be stripped down to the max as you need extremely quick boot and shut down times (5-10 secs).

Features: these are the features i currently have
touchscreen
80GB music/video player (any format)
Mixer
Navigation system
web browser
email
VOIP (skype)
google earth
camera

however keep in mind that it is a computer and therefore features are limitless.

Cost: thats tricky because theres always the question of what kinds of part you already have and how good and creative you are with your garage tools, heres what i mean...
computer - my cost on it was $0 as i had a spare lappy. normally the range is $400-$2000 it depends how new and powerfull do you want it.
monitor - $300 - there are also motorized ones which are around $400-$600. (touchscreen)
GPS module - $50-$100 (had a spare one)
inverter - $70-$120 (i made mine)
start-shotdown module - normally $50 (i made mine).
volume knob - $60-$150 (made that too)

and alot of time, ALOT...

and attached are some pics, let me know if you would like to see more pics. and if you are interested in such project i will gladly help you (;

Interesting fix. So what caused the problem in the first place? You think that original ground burned out or something?

i highly doubt a ground wire can burn... as far as i know when there isnt enough ground then the wire that carries the positive current would overhear/burn which is the reason our fuses blow.
however whats so interesting in this situation is that theres is direct contact between the positive and the ground wire and no blown fuse.
so to identify the source of the problem i would have to dig into the main harness leaving the engine bay which means power control box apart and searching for 1 red wire out of probably 20 or 30 red wires thats suppose to be ground but is positive just like the other 30 red ones lol. that didnt seem realistic to me. plus when i think about it... those 3 illumination ground wires i cut are not even needed as everything can be just grounded to the chasis, and yet the panel lights even remain on the same fuse "panel" so i dont see the point behind this "special" grounding.

however be best guess to the cause of the problem would be the fuse i blew at first, i think it sparked the positive illumination wire and made it short with the ground wire...but again digging through the harness to identify one wire is not practical.

I had the same question as Tox about the button. Also, did you write a special program for the GUI of your computer. Looks awsome! how did you connect the screen to the laptop and where did you hide the laptop parts?

I had the same question as Tox about the button. Also, did you write a special program for the GUI of your computer. Looks awsome! how did you connect the screen to the laptop and where did you hide the laptop parts?

the screen connects to the lappy via VGA and USB interface (touchscreen) and uses 12Vdc.
after minimizing the laptop's size to about 1/2 an inch thick, i put it under the passanger carpet all the way in the front.

attached is the diagram of all the devices used and how they are connected. ignore the red circle (its a proper connection).

note the relay and the pc module they allow turning the PC on and off (on acc on/off)

software: the are a few good front ends:
roadrunner - most customizable and open source
frodo player - also open source and customizable.
centrafuse - commercial, customizable skins and plugins.
mobile impact - light weight, skinnable interface, easy navigation.
as you can see there are a few - all are good, its what would you like more. i have used roadrunner, mobileimpact and centrafuse. they are all great programs.

if you notice, there is a little joystick on the left side of the monitor - this is an analog stick from an Xbox controller - i used it for next,previous track.
up,down arrow keys, and monitor on/off on push.